Fatal Deer Tick Virus Infection in Maine

Catherine E Cavanaugh; Paul L Muscat; Sam R Telford 3rd; Heidi Goethert; William Pendlebury; Susan P Elias; Rebecca Robich; Margret Welch; Charles B Lubelczyk; Robert P Smith

doi:10.1093/cid/cix435

Fatal Deer Tick Virus Infection in Maine

Clin Infect Dis. 2017 Sep 15;65(6):1043-1046. doi: 10.1093/cid/cix435.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Lincoln Medical Partners Internal Medicine, Damariscotta.
² Division of Neurology, Maine Medical Center, Portland.
³ Division of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts.
⁴ Department of Neuropathology, University of Vermont, Burlington.
⁵ Maine Medical Center Research Institute, Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory.
⁶ Division of Infectious Diseases, Maine Medical Center, Portland.

PMID: 28903511
DOI: 10.1093/cid/cix435

Abstract

Deer tick virus (DTV), a genetic variant (lineage II) of Powassan virus, is a rare cause of encephalitis in North America. We report a fatal case of DTV encephalitis following a documented bite from an Ixodes scapularis tick and the erythema migrans rash associated with Lyme disease.

Keywords: Powassan virus; deer tick virus; encephalitis; pathology; tick-borne illness.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Aged
Animals
Bites and Stings / complications*
Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne*
Encephalitis, Tick-Borne / virology*
Fatal Outcome
Female
Humans
Ixodes*
Maine